


Roman's Empire

by Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath



Series: The Makings of Team CRME [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mild Sexual Content, Mobster in Remnant, Organized Crime, Some Swearing, Villain Origin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-03 05:59:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13334934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath/pseuds/Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath
Summary: Roman Torchwick is a mobster who wants to make a name for himself. And he will do whatever it takes to get there. He will lie, cheat, and steal, to do what he has to survive.





	1. A Name to Remember

**Author's Note:**

> And this is Roman's story of how he got a name in the criminal underworld. This one is a story that I'll be looking forward to writing. Like with Mercury's story, I'm only putting this one up now to make sure that the CRME fic won't be out of order. But I'll be more likely to update this one sooner than I do with Mercury's story. And if you're wondering, I'll be getting into his start in the mob next chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **UPDATE:** Chapters 1 and 2 have been merged to help with better pacing in the long run. While I was writing the next chapter, it went on for longer than I wanted and I thought this would be the better solution for what I have planned. (Plus, I don't really want to use more than six chapters to tell this one.)

Okay. So, here’s the deal. My name is Roman Torchwick. You’ll wanna remember that name because someday, I’m gonna be somebody in this world. You can bet on that. As a twenty-four-year-old mob enforcer, I’ve still got some ways to climb before I’m on top of things. I’ve got big plans ahead of me. But right now, that’s not very important. What’s important now is what’s going on right now is I’m in a black van with my buddy Dwight Golding. And right now, we’re on our way to take care of someone for our boss. And yes, I mean “take care” in the mob sense of the phrase. But you probably already knew that.

I’m just fixing my gun because it got jammed earlier. My trusty cane, Melodic Cudgel. Compared to a lot of other weapons in a world like this, a cane for a gun seems pretty ordinary. But I don’t need the extra flare. Dwight’s driving and he seems a little nervous. I don’t really know why. The punk we’re going to attack is hardly much of a threat. He’s could barely protect himself from a housefly. He doesn’t even have a lot of extra muscle on hand. Not like our boss. (As if our boss really needs it.)

I look over to him as soon as I get my gun unjammed. “Hey, Dwight.”

“Yeah,” he responds.

“You know that this is just a standard run, right?”

“I know that.”

“Then why are you gripping the steering wheel like you’ll be ripped away from it at any second?”

“I’m just… being safe. That’s all. We get in a crash, I want to make sure I can hang on.”

“Well, that is what seatbelts are for.”

“Give me a break, Torchwick! I haven’t been in this scene as long as you.”

“Two months is a long enough time to get over the nervousness. That’s how things work in this business. You either get over it or get out.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re the boss’ favorite.”

“For reasons that I’m not particularly thrilled about.”

“Either way, it’s not like you’ll be murdered for trying to get out. Two months is a long time to see some stuff in this job. Stuff that the boss wouldn’t want us leaking to others like cops and stuff.”

“And that’s why we get a big paycheck to ensure our silence.”

“Yet they can’t get us some nicer suits other than these dull grey ones.”

“Baby steps, Dwight. Baby steps.” I load my gun and get ready for action as soon as I see our destination. Brick Cordovan’s place. Now, don’t let the name “Brick” make you think that this guy is one scrawny wimp who really shouldn’t be trying to put his money where his mouth is. He’s been dealing black-market Dust without our employer’s permission. As you can imagine, we’re here to put a stop to it. Either by killing little Brick or by scaring enough crap out of him to make sure he doesn’t do it again.

Dwight parks the van in front of Cordovan’s building and already, we see two guards up front. Perfect. And here I thought he wouldn’t be too well armed. “You said he didn’t have any muscle, Roman.”

“Well, I guess Cord finally wised up and got some. But don’t freak out. I’m pretty sure they can smell fear.”

As I step out of the van, Dwight asks me the stupidest question, “…Can they?”

“Get out of the car!” He grabs his gun and rushes to my side. This guy… I don’t know what to do with him. We walk to the front door and the guards stop us. “Don’t worry. We’re here on official business. Roman Torchwick. I work for Kincaid. And we need to see your boss. I promise that this will be quick.”

They don’t hesitate to raise their guns at us as soon as we walk towards the door. “Not a chance,” one of them says.

“Trust me. We only want to talk. No need to make this messy.” Even though I’d really like to.

“If your boss wanted to be diplomatic, how come you’re here instead?”

“Because if our boss was here, you wouldn’t have the luxury of being able to talk right now. This is about as diplomatic as it gets.”

The two morons look at each other. “One minute,” he says as he heads inside.

The other one happens to be quite the conversationalist. “You know, I don’t think you guys should be acting like some hot stuff. It’s not like you’re any better than us.”

“Actually,” I note, “the difference between me and you is that our boss trusts us with personal information and your boss makes you the doormen.”

He grunts in anger as the other one returns. “Sorry, but you’re not coming in.”

I laugh. “I was kinda hoping you’d say that.”

I pick up my cane and knock his gun out of his hand. Dwight shoots the other one before he can have a chance to go after me. And I kick the other one into the door. As I open the door, Dwight shoots the other. “Not so bad, is it?”

We walk in, and we see a bunch of guys pointing guns at us. I raise Melodic Cudgel up to them and take aim. I just had to open my big mouth, didn’t I? We engage our Auras just to make sure we don’t get shot to death before I take them out. “You were saying?” Dwight says.

“Leave one of ‘em alive.” I fire the cane and take out three of them at once. Dwight takes out the ones on the other side. I feel a few bullets bounce off my Aura. It still kinda hurts. I know only huntsmen usually unlock their Auras but in this life, it’s kinda necessary. I’m usually nice enough to let some of the newer recruits in on the secret.

Anyway, we see the last guy shaking in fear as we point our guns at him. We walk forward slowly just to instill fear. Standard tactic. And within seconds, he’s already squealing like a baby. “Please don’t hurt me!” he says.

“Where is Cordovan?”

“In the back office!” He gave that up pretty quick.

“Thank you. Dwight?” Dwight shoots him in the face and kills him.

I kick the door open and we see Cordovan cowering in fear with a puny pistol. The frail old man doesn’t stand a chance. “Please don’t kill me!” Cord says.

“Drop the gun.” He does just that. “Now, I think you know exactly why we’re here.”

“Look, I just wanted to get some money on the side. Kincaid wouldn’t let me get a bigger cut.”

“You traffic Dust for our boss. You pay tariffs to our boss. You don’t get to cut out on that.”

“Okay! Okay! I’ll pay everything! Just let me live!”

“Hey Roman,” Dwight says. “You think that Kincaid would like to have a piece of this guy.”

“Now that you mention it…” I begin. “I think that would be a great idea.”

Dwight takes out his scroll and calls Kincaid. “Hey boss, we got Cord here. You wanna us to take him?” I smirk as Cordovan starts panicking. “Oh, we’ll get right on that.” He hangs up the scroll. “Good news. You get a personal meeting with the boss. And I highly doubt it’s to make kissy-faces for you.”

I flip my cane around and get ready to swing the handle at his face. “Oh, trust me,” I say. “You’ll be pleased to meet her.” With one swing of the cane, I knock him out. Just another day of work.

* * *

Now, I promised that I’d share a little bit about my past, so now might be a good time to do it. Let’s just say that I was kinda born into this life. My dad was a low-level boss working on trafficking Dust and drugs. The Torchwick name wasn’t that well known. And I was keen on changing that. So, at the tender age of sixteen, I started to get into the family business. It soon became very apparent as to what kind of world my father involved himself in. It was a dangerous, unforgiving world. You need to have power to survive. And those who don’t have it get taken out pretty quickly. In turn, I needed to adapt.

When I worked with my dad, I was nothing more than muscle. Someone who went to deals and shot whoever I was told, and I didn’t hesitate. That was just how things worked. You had to survive. If you couldn’t, then you weren’t good enough to live on. I’ve swindled a lot of people to get from low-level grunt to one of the chief enforcers. It goes to show you that if you put your mind to anything (and maybe kill a few of the people in your way), you can accomplish anything.

But that’s not important right now. Right now, we were bringing the sniveling coward know as Brick Cordovan to our boss. Dwight stops the van right in front of our building. “Go check and see if he’s still unconscious,” I say.

“Why do I have to do it?” he responds.

“What? Are you really scared that he's gonna wake up and pee his pants when he sees you?”

“Roman, please. If he were gonna pee himself, he’d do it while he was unconscious. That’s how it works.”

“Right, because your body doesn’t keep you from wetting the bed when you’re over the age of eight.”

“Well, he is old. He could do that.”

I stop to think about that. “I mean, he’s not that old, but I guess you’re not wrong.” Alright, back on topic. “Anyway, just go check on Cord.”

“Fine!” We both get out of the care as I go to one of our door guards.

“Get over here and take the body in our trunk downstairs and tie him up.” He raises an eyebrow and I realize my mistake in phrasing. “The unconscious body, numb-nuts.”

He comes with me to the trunk of the van. Dwight already put the bag over his head. Good. He was starting to learn. And as the guard takes Cordovan downstairs, Dwight and I go up to see Kincaid. And once again, he asks me the dumb question that he always asks. “Hey, Roman. Can I ask you a question about the boss?”

I roll my eyes, knowing what he’s asking. “It’s completely one-sided. Nothing happened. And I have no interest in it. So, could you please drop it now.”

“I’m just saying… it’s the boss, you know?”

“Yes. And that is how I would like to keep things. Do not push it.”

“Fine, fine.” As we get to the door of Kincaid’s office, I can already hear girls giggling in there. This again. That’s one notable thing about Kincaid. Never stops trying to flirt with people. I open the door and I see the boss chatting with some young twenty-something girl.

Oh, I may have forgotten to properly describe my boss. Her name is Violet Kincaid. A redhead who was well into her fifties, but still never acted like it. She always surrounded herself with beautiful men and women. Likely for a fun night at her place. She’s been on the mob scene longer than I’ve been alive. She made her way up the ranks and eventually came up to be the queen of the black-market Dust trade. Not only that, but she dealt in drug trafficking. Things were slowing on that front (surprisingly enough), so the Dust trade is what kept things going.

Let me just say that she is one ruthless old woman. One reason why she’s so feared is that she doesn’t need the backup of people like me or her even more intimidating enforcers to strike fear into your heart. If she wants to get her hands dirty, she will. And she will take down men twice her size. I gotta admit that I like that in a woman. But she is my boss and that sort of relationship isn’t something to be pursued. However, Kincaid strongly disagrees. She takes every opportunity to make a pass at me and I honestly am not interested. Not only for the fact that she’s over twice my age, but because I didn’t really think of her as that appealing. I mean she was easy on the eyes for a woman of her age, but it’s just not my thing.

However, Kincaid finally noticed us at the door and took the time to greet us. Her smile widens as she looks straight at me. “Roman, baby!” she shouts. She gets up and walks towards me. “I heard there was a bit of a scuffle. Though I’m glad that they didn’t ruin that pretty face of yours.”

She puts a hand on my cheek and I push it away. “Still not interested, Vi.” Yes. I’m on a first name basis with my mob boss. Pretty rare to see, but when your boss wants to get in your pants, it seems only logical that they would want to be on casual terms with you.

“Oh, come on now, Roman,” she says with an exaggerated pout. “You’re gonna go breaking my heart.”

“You’d need to have a heart to break first, you old pervert.” I notice that she leans forward with her low-cut top. I know exactly what she’s trying to do. It’s a nice view, but I’m not getting sucked into her web by it.

“Pssh. I’m not  _that_  old.” She smirks at me. That was another advantage of having a boss who wants to sleep with you. If anyone else said what I just said even behind her back, they would get shot in the face. That’s privilege right there. “Speaking of old things, did you get Brick over here yet? I wanna get my need to beat something up out before I entertain my guest over there.”

“He’s downstairs right now.”

She clasps her hands together. “Oh, perfect! Not nearly as satisfying as a full-on fight, but I’ll take it. Let’s get going.” She looks back at her lady-friend. “Don’t go anywhere, dollface.”

The three of us head down to the basement. A pretty dark room with some stale lighting overhead. In the center of it is Cordovan tied up in a chair. His muffled screaming can be heard through the bag. Now it’s time to watch the boss at work. Kincaid rips the bag off his head. Fear is present in his eyes as the woman glares at him. He is gagged with duct tape and she harshly rips it off.

“L- l- l- look, Kincaid,” he stutters, “this is all just a misunderstanding.”

She takes her nail and digs it into his cheek. “Oh, really? Well, do you mind explaining why you cut of tariffs came up short for the last few months?” She slowly drags the nail up, drawing blood. She likes to take her time. “You’re taking away from my revenue stream. And that’s just something I can’t have. When you traffic Dust in my town, you answer to me.” She looks over at us. “Get my tools, Dwight.”

Dwight pulls up a cart with various instruments. “Roman,” she asks, “Would you mind lending me your cane, honey?” I’m not gonna question it lest she uses that cane on me. And she gets right to the point. She bashes one of his kneecaps in and he lets out a loud shriek. “Oh, don’t be a baby! I haven’t even gotten to the fun part yet.” She starts unbuckling his pants and I start to question why I’m still in this room. Thankfully, she clears it up. “And no, it’s not that kind of fun. I’ve got a girl upstairs for that for later.” She pulls them down only leaving his boxers on and exposing the skin of his thighs.

One thing about torture is that you don’t really need fancy tools for it. It just had to cause pain. And that’s why she pulls out a cordless curling iron. No, seriously. She turns it on and allows it to warm up. Cordovan already knows what going to happen. “Look, Kincaid, I- I- am really s- s-sorry for this,” he stutters. “But it won’t happen again.”

She punches him in the face. “Damn right, you’re not. And I will make sure of that. Have you ever felt a hot curling iron?” He frantically shakes his head. “It’s not fun. Lemme tell you that much. I’m just waiting for it to get to full power. Do you know how hot it can get?”

“Kincaid,” he begs, “Please don’t do this.”

“Up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s not recommended to go to that setting, but thankfully I’m not using it to curl hair. Not that I’d need to with hair like this.” She loves complimenting herself. It got annoying at times. “I kinda want a bucket of water just to show you.”

“Kincaid, please!” He shoves her heel into the man’s crotch. It’s so bad that even I can feel it.

“Honestly, Cord,” I say, “it’s best if you just give up on trying to get out of this.”

“He’s got a point,” she says as she winks at me. I subtly shake my head. “I am going to hurt you really badly. And I’m really just itching to listen to a miserable little worm’s screams as I make him squeal.” Kincaid pushed the hot metal onto his leg with a smile on her face. We can even see the skin burning. Screaming at the top of his lungs. Music. Music to my ears. I can’t help but smirk at it. His pathetic cries for mercy as he’s blubbering like a little baby.

That’s the kind of power I want. To strike fear into hearts. And demand respect.


	2. Knowing Your Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman is invited to a very extravagant party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one ended up being MUCH longer than expected. Depending on the pacing, I might go back to five chapters. But it seems like this story will be the longest solo fic.

I’ve been running with Kincaid’s operation for almost three years now. After my dad decided to retire, I decided that I wasn’t done yet. I was still in my prime. I’m not just gonna back down from that. But no. The old man thought it would be better just to lay low. I told him I wasn’t done with things and I still liked working in the mob.

That’s when he recommended I go with Kincaid. You see, I was told that she was looking for some enforcers. And I was also told she was a bit eccentric. I didn’t think it would be that bad but I doubt that your boss wanting to sleep with you counts as eccentricity. Still, by the time she was thirty, she was able to control most of the organized crime in Vale. That’s definitely something to write home about.

So, I decided to join her operation as an enforcer. Two years later and I’m making a lot of profit for myself. A lot of the criminal element already fears me and knows my affiliation with her. It makes you a lot of enemies, but none of them are truly willing to mess with you. Anyone who tries to go after me has to answer to Kincaid. But someday, people won’t fear me because of someone else. They’ll fear me and me alone. I know it.

But enough about that. Right now, Dwight and I are in a car, driving to a little party that she’s holding, celebrating a successful twenty-five-year career working in the mob. Most of the main underbosses would be there. In a way, it was something of a power move and a way for people under her to ask for favors or get bigger pieces of territory. But it was also a way for her to connect with the masses. She strikes up some small-talk and tries to make new friends (that she’d subsequently betray later).

I try to make sure my suit looks good and my hair is presentable. Dwight didn’t put much effort into it. Honestly, he needs help with this sort of thing. He was hopeless. “Alright,” I say, “you know what you need to do, right?”

“Don’t talk to anyone the boss doesn’t ask you to,” he began, “and don’t say anything to offend the other bosses. I don’t know why you have to patronize me about this, Roman.”

“Because you are a mess of a human being who knows nothing of proper social etiquette in these formal situations.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“At least I can fake it for long enough. Put in the effort and make yourself look like a half-way decent person to not embarrass yourself.”

“I mean, it’s not that formal. Especially if she starts hitting on the wait-staff again.”

“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be on your best behavior. These guys are criminals, not thugs. And this is a time for us to behave like it. We’re lucky to even get an invite to this place.”

“What are you gonna do if she starts hitting on you again?”

“Smile, laugh along, then take her to the side so no one can hear us and tell her to cut it out.”

“You think that’s gonna work?”

“If not, then this is going to be a _long_ night.” Honestly, I haven’t thought that far. She’s rather persistent, to say the least. Hopefully, there are more attractive waiters or waitresses there to keep her attention away from me. I look out the window and see the building coming up. “Pull over here.” He does exactly that as I reach back into the back seat to grab my cane. Never go anywhere without it. You never know when you need it.

“Ready to go?” he says as he steps out of the car.

“Always,” I respond with a smirk. As if the question needs to be asked. We both walk up to the door and the guards stop us immediately.

“What are you doing here?” he asks. Figures. It’s not like any nameless enforcers were usually allowed in these gatherings.

“We’re associates of Kincaid and it would do you well to let us in. Lest you want to make her angry.”

“Never heard of you guys.”

I glare with indignance. “Look, you really don’t want to do something that pisses her off, do you? I would hope the answer is no unless you have a death wish.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat?”

“Just a matter of fact if anything. I would just think you’d want to keep your head above water and avoid having to face her.” He suddenly grabs the lapel of my jacket. “Hey, hey, hey! Watch the suit!” Utter barbarian.

“Listen here, punk. I don’t care who you know. You’re not allowed in.”

Suddenly, like clockwork, Kincaid shows up to my rescue. Thank the gods. “Hey! That’s no way to treat my special guest!” Of course, she’s wearing a rather form-fitting backless dress with a low neckline. And of course, it would be purple in color. The color of royalty. “Get your hands off him!” The idiot drops me out of fear. Thankfully, I land on my feet. Her scowl turns into a smile as she looks back at me. “Roman, baby. So glad you could make it.”

She goes in to hug me. (What are the chances that they think I’m her son I wonder?) “Glad to be here, despite the rough treatment from your guards.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. You did mention that you were a guest of mine, right?” I see his eyes widen with fear. Now he believes it.

“I certainly did, yet he refused to believe me.” I glare right back at him with a smirk on his face.

“Oh, well that just won’t do. I’ll need to have a ‘talk’ with him later. Why don’t you and Dwight come in and I’ll bring you some drinks.”

“I’d love to,” Dwight adds. “Nice to see you, Ms. Kincaid.”

She chuckles. “Come on! Don’t call me ‘Ms. Kincaid.’ It makes me feel old.” Before I can even say anything, she turns to me with a completely serious face and says, “Don’t even say it.” Just because I don’t say it, it doesn’t make it false. “But come on in, please.”

“I’ll catch up with you in a minute,” I say. As they go in, my smile grows as I walk past him and adjust my suit. “I warned you, didn’t I?”

As I walk in, I see many of Vale’s most prominent mobsters dressed to the nines. A peacekeeping measure to be honest. On any other day, they’d be ripping each other’s throats out for control of Vale. (Kincaid especially. And by her preferences, literally.) But you throw a party and invite everyone there, it gives everyone a chance to settle grievances peacefully. Not to say that it was perfect, but it’s better than the alternative. It wasn’t much different than your average elite “fundraiser.” (I mean, really. Those rich snobs will find any excuse to make their usual habit of standing around while drinking champagne and talking about their wealth.)

I see Kincaid and Dwight talking together with some drinks in hand. “So, I hope things haven’t been too eventful before we got here,” I say.

“Not to worry. But why don’t we get you some drinks.” She waves down a waiter holding a tray of champagne glasses. “Thank you very much.” Smirks just before giving him a slap on the sss as he walks away. He seems appropriately weirded out by that. Especially with her seductive eyes on him as he walks away. She leans closer to me. “Is it just me or does the wait staff seem to be getting hotter every time I throw one of these things?”

“Would it kill you not to harass them every time you hold one of these things.”

“Hey, they should be lucky to be hit on by someone as gorgeous as me.” She can always seem to find a way to compliment herself.

“You hear that, Roman?” Dwight taunts. “You should be feeling lucky.” I just raise my middle finger for him to see. I swear I don’t know why I put up with him.

“Exactly! That has to be the smartest thing I’ve heard you say.”

“I’m not exactly sure how to take that.”

I lean in and say, “Just take it as a compliment. It’s the only one you’ll get from her.”

“Well, I do have an announcement to make,” she says, “so If you’ll excuse me…” She walks to the center of the room. “Attention everyone!” All heads turn to her. “I’d like to start by saying thank you for coming to our little get-together. It’s nice to know that at the end of the day, while we may have our disputes, we can settle our differences peacefully for the good of all our businesses. Unfortunately,” but not really that unfortunate, “one of our own couldn’t be with us today. Brick Cordovan. I’m sure you all knew him well. He was vital to our Dust trade, indeed he was, but he tried to take profits away from all of us for himself. Because he didn’t understand the importance of working together with all of us. Something that you all understand. Paying a tariff isn’t a punishment. They help me find more resources to expand our empire so that we all succeed.”

Only she could try to turn raising taxes on everyone into a positive thing for everything. It’s amazing how she manages to make herself not look like a greedy, violent sociopath. “And speaking of that success,” she continued. “we are in one of our most profitable years in a long time thanks to our expansion outside of Vale. The Dust trade profits alone have tripled thanks to our inside man in the Schnee Dust Company. I’m sure Jacques is pulling his hair out right now wondering here all blood money is going. Heh. And they call us the criminals.” She smiles as everyone laughs at the joke. And I can’t help but chuckle at it myself. It’s not like she didn’t have a point.

“And of course, you are all to thank for helping bring that to fruition. But, there is one person that I want to personally thank. My special guest, Roman Torchwick.” Kincaid directs everyone’s attention to me. I smirk in response to the extra attention that she gets me. “He has been a loyal enforcer in my operation for quite some time and I must say that I couldn’t have asked for a better person to work with. I can tell that this kid is gonna go far in this business. And thanks to him, he has helped acquire connections outside of Vale which have been very important. So why don’t we all give him a hand.” They all applaud. Some reluctant and others genuine. But either way, it got me recognition. And that’s all I can really ask for. “Anyway, I hope you all enjoy yourselves, and I hope we all enjoy more success in the future.”

Everyone applauds as she walks back to me. “Did you like my speech?” she asks.

“Indeed,” I respond. “I especially liked your compliments towards me.”

“Well, I meant every word of it.”

“Why thank you very much.” She chuckles to herself just before I add, “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

“Dammit,” she mutters. “Well, there was this cute blonde waitress over there that I’ll be checking out. But if you change your mind, there’s always room for one more.” She smirks and winks at me as she walks away, swaying her hips as she did.

Dwight leans over to me. “So, what are we gonna do?”

“Are you really that socially inept?” I say. “Just go out, strike up a conversation, and don’t embarrass yourself. I swear, it’s like you need me to hold your hand for everything you do.”

 

The party dragged on for a while. I spent time talking to some more of the underbosses and talking to them about their rise to power. Just to get some pointers on how I’ll be doing the same. I have had a few people give me some dirty looks, but I shrug it off. They probably just can’t handle the fact that an enforcer has such influence. Especially since I’ve gained Kincaid’s favor. No doubt, those who know her probably think it’s because I’m sleeping with her. (She can try, but it’s not happening.)

“Roman!” I hear a woman say. I look over and see my mother of all people. Candace Torchwick. She knew all about Dad’s life in the mob. And she usually came along with him to functions like this. I’m guessing that Kincaid invited her mostly out of tradition. And the fact that I would be here. Ever since Dad was killed, she didn’t really involve herself in things like this. But it was nice to see her again. I give her a hug as she runs up to me. “How has my son been doing? I hear that Violet has been saying many great things about you.”

“Well, I am earning my place in this organization.”

“Oh, I’m so proud of you for making it so far. Your father would be so proud.”

“I’m sure he would. So, what brings you here, Mom?”

“Violet sent me an invite, but I was just coming in to say congratulations on the recognition.” As any good mom would.

“Thank you. I’m touched.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie. But I best be heading out. Not much place for me in these things anymore. Be sure to enjoy yourself.”

“Don’t worry. I will.” As she leaves, I go over to Kincaid. “You didn’t let her know that you killed him, right?” I ask.

“Will that be a problem?”

“No, I’d rather keep it that way. She doesn’t need to know.”

“Aw, little Roman cares about his mommy.” I only roll my eyes at her mocking tone. “Look, I’m just saying you really shouldn’t have feelings for people. That’s how idiots get taken advantage of.”

“I’m aware of that. You think I’m the kind of person to get taken down like that?”

“I’m just making sure you don’t do something stupid. I meant it when I said you had potential. Don’t make me look like an idiot.”

“I’m guessing having a lack of leverage on you is the reason you never got married to anyone.”

“Oh, there’s a lot of reasons for that, but that’s not one of ‘em. Even if I did get hitched and they took my lover hostage, I’d go over there and shoot them myself. Much cheaper than divorce.” She smirks at that comment. “Only get close to people if you intend to stab them in the back.”

“Why tell me this?”

“Think of it as me being generous.”

“And making sure I live long enough for you to –“

“Oh, shut up.”

Suddenly, a bunch of guys with guns come in and start shooting at everyone. Many people start ducking and getting out of the way. Not Kincaid. She smirks before engaging her Aura and running straight towards them. I engage my own Aura and prepare to fight them myself. I take on them on and spin my cane fast enough to deflect the bullets. When I get close enough I take the cane and slam the handle into one guy’s face. I then use it to trip the other while I kick the third in the chest. I take one guy’s gun and shoot them all.

She jumps up and kicks one of them in the face before disarming all of them. Even in heels, she gracefully fights all of them and even vaults over one of them. Standing behind the man, he kicks him into another and they fall on each other. She picks up one of their guns and shoots all of them except one. “And here we were just having a nice little get-together,” she started, “before some knuckleheads came in and ruined it!” Kincaid knocks him on the ground and points the gun at his head. “So, who are you working for? I know you guys didn’t just come on your own.”

“I- I can’t say,” the thug stutters. “He’ll kill us if we say anything!”

“Honey, if you don’t tell me anything, you’ll be begging me to kill you after I’m done with you.”

“Oh, gods! Please don’t…”

As they talk, I see another man reaching into his coat. Russell Reed. He ran Dust and drug trades on the south side of Vale. Whether he’s trying to shoot the thug or shoot Kincaid, it doesn’t look good for him. I lift my cane and open up the reticle on it as I point it at his head. “I wouldn’t suggest doing that,” I say, “unless you want me to make a firework out of your head.”

Kincaid looks over at me and Reed. “Oh, so this is the little traitor who wanted to ruin everything,” she spits at him. Her expression was cold, but there was raw anger behind it.

Reed, however, isn’t easily fazed. “Don’t give me that, Kincaid,” he says. “We all know you only work for yourself. I’m not spending the money on your ridiculous taxes.”

“Wanted to keep some money for your family, right?” She cocks an eyebrow and it causes Reed to hesitate. Just like she said, it’s how idiots get taken advantage of. “You know, maybe I should go pay them a visit. I just want you to know that they’ll be dead because of what you did. I wonder how your wife would feel… I wonder how your two daughters would say when I tell them that Daddy got them killed for being really, really stupid.” Every word was dripping with malice.

“You wouldn’t,” he said as she walks behind him.

She chuckles as she pulls up her dress just enough to reveal a knife strapped to her thigh. “I think that we both know that I would. Don’t worry. You’ll see them soon.” As she raises the knife to his throat, he almost screams in protest before slicing it open. Right in front of everyone.

And as I lower my cane, I see her true powers of persuasion. She looks at everyone with a friendly smile. “Well, that was eventful. And it’s truly unfortunate that one of our own has decided to ruin what was supposed to be a peaceful event into such a mess. I’ll have my workers direct you to a room you can stay in while we get everything cleaned up here, but I won’t hold it against you if wish to leave now. My apologies for this turn of events.” Most people went to the room, but some still left while giving their farewell wishes to her. Even after this display of violence, they still didn’t seem to hold it against her.

Dwight, Kincaid, and I are eventually the only three guests still in the room. “So, I guess no one’s going to try to pull anything now that they just saw what happened, right?” Dwight asks.

“Well,” she replied, "after they see what I do to his family, I’m sure they’ll figure it out.”

His face then turns to one of horror. “Wait, I thought that was just for show. You’re not really going to kill them… are you?”

She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Dwight, you really are one naïve soul. It’s not just for show. If they realize that acts of treason like this don’t get punished, then how do you think that makes me look?” He stares blankly. After two months, he still doesn’t really get it. “It sends a message that those who go against me will face consequences.”

Dwight turns to me as Kincaid walks away. “She can’t be serious.” I give no response. “Roman, this is insane! You can’t seriously be okay with that.”

I shrug and say, “That’s the way the world works. You either survive in it or you get crushed by it and the stronger survivors. I learned that a long time ago. And that couldn’t ring truer in this business. So, you can either suck it up and deal with it or just leave.” And I leave him behind to go to that room. Honestly, if Dwight really doesn’t get it by now, I don’t know how he’ll ever make it.


	3. Building the Foundations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman starts to learn that being an entrepreneur in organized crime isn’t as easy as it looks. Fortunately, he gets a useful assistant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it’s been a while, but I wanted to get to work on some other fics before getting back to this one again. I don't know why, but this is on track to be the longest (solo) fic in the series. I guess I just have a lot to say for this story.
> 
> But as always, I hope you enjoy it.

I’ve been pretty busy in the last few years. I know that it has been a while since I’ve last filled you in, so let me catch you up to speed.

Dwight and I personally witnessed the murder of the Reed family. In all honesty, it was one of the most brutal acts I had witnessed Kincaid committing. Such a macabre display of violence. I didn’t even know she could smile that wide. She even left the bodies with smiles carved into their cheeks and posed them like a family photo. Dwight, of course, didn’t have much of a stomach for it. But somehow, this didn’t negatively affect her relationships with the underbosses. They still paid the tariffs more so out of fear than respect. (Though really, who says you can’t have both?) She was still thriving.

I saw it as an opportunity. Three years later, Kincaid was moving her base of operations to a place in Atlas. They had been working hard to get the right cops to keep things under wraps. Since I didn’t particularly care for the kingdom, I convinced Dwight to join me in creating my new business right here in Vale. Kincaid paid handsomely for the severance package. A million Lien on top of the millions I made working for her was just enough to invest. I pretty much knew everything I would need to get started. (While I’d like to think that it was her being nice out of the goodness of her heart, she probably hoped it would open me up to sleeping with her.)

I started by getting myself a new wardrobe. A nice white coat and black suit with a very stylish bowler hat. Dwight thought it looked stupid, but he was never really had any good taste, to begin with. We went to the criminal underworld to see what kind of help we could get. Even some… Faunus… Honestly, working with them isn’t desirable, but I needed all the hands I could get. We were trying to get our own shipments of Dust and illegal weapons moved around and potentially cut out the middleman. If the buyers buy directly from us, we won’t get tariffs by the (currently) higher bosses. It was a pretty sweet deal.

Well, when we could actually do it. Often times, we got some trouble from the other local mob bosses. Apparently, they don’t take too kindly to other people infringing on their territory. They don’t really accept people still building their businesses. It was aggravating, to say the least. But I still looked ahead. Trying to keep a positive outlook.

Interrupted by the sound of one of the idiots nearly dropping a crate Dust. “Sorry, boss,” I hear him say as I turn to him. I must say, it’s nice to get called “boss.”

Still, I roll my eyes. “How many times must I tell you that these are valuable and need careful handling? Not to mention, potentially volatile. Not only would you waste money on the loss, but the whole thing could blow us all to smithereens!”

“Sorry,” he stutters. “It won’t happen again.”

“It better not,” I respond while leaning on my cane while smoking a cigar. As they load the Dust crates I see one man slacking off while doing something on his scroll. “Hey, jackass!” I say to the Faunus man with donkey ears. “I thought I told you to get the truck ready to ride. Why are you sitting down?”

“It was just a small break, Mr. Torchwick.”

“I’m not paying you to sit around, am I?”

“You barely pay us as is.”

“Well, maybe if you started getting that product moved, I could make some more money that could go to you. It’s a startup and I’m investing. So, get to work or else you’ll never get paid at all.” He begrudgingly gets up and gets to his task. I swear some of these animals are so thick-skulled, it’s unbelievable.

I walk over to Dwight who is helping me oversee this whole operation. “So, how are things looking?” I ask.

“Pretty good,” he replies. “It looks like we’ll be getting a profit of 300,000 Lien from this drop.”

“Three hundred grand? For a shipment this small?”

“Well, there’s some experimental Dust in there. It’s said to be very valuable. They’re in the green crates.”

I remember that the idiot nearly dropped a green crate. “So, Dwight,” I say louder, “what your saying is that those green crates contain some very valuable and expensive new experimental Dust?” Sure enough, the worker looks up at me with even more fear in his eyes. “Sounds like you wouldn’t wanna be dropping that, would you?”

The man just looks down at his feet and goes to get another crate. “Do you really have to be so hard on everyone, Roman?”

“It’s called taking charge, Dwight. Making sure people don’t screw up. This is exactly why you’re not the brains of this operation.”

“Hey, Torchwick!” I hear someone say. That doesn’t sound good. I look over and see another rival boss. He’s joined by a few of his workers. Oh, this is going to be pleasant.

“Look at this! It’s Stacy Greene. How’s it going, Stacy.”

“I told you to call me ‘the Stace,’” he insists. I resist the urge to roll my eyes at it.

“Dude, I understand the need to safeguard your masculinity, but that name is even stupider than your actual name. You could at least just insist on being called ‘Greene.’”

“Shut up! You see, word on the street is that you’ve been trying to take away from the local gun  trade.”

“Yeah, a little start-up. Just an honest businessman trying to make a living just like you.”

“Oh, that’s great,” he says with a smile. But the smile quickly disappears. “Except for the fact that you’ve been cutting in on the Stace trade.”

“Oh, gods…” I mutter.

“You don’t cut in on that behind the back of ‘the Stace!’ You better give us all these goods and get out while you can.”

“Okay,” Dwight says, “you know, if you wanna be intimidating, you really should consider getting a different name.”

“He’s got a point,” I add with a smirk. “Honestly, Stacy, you don’t scare me. And you probably needed to bring a few more guys if you wanted to intimidate me. I’ve still got my guys who could take you and your little meat-headed grunts out easily.” Suddenly, I hear some gunshots. Dwight turns around scared and I don’t even move. I already know what that is. I sigh and say, “He’s got more guys, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“And they just killed our workers, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

I sigh as I grip my cane. Stacy notices. “You aim that little cane at me, my men will put a bunch of holes in both of you,” he says. I grunt with frustration at the threat. “I hope you understand that messing with the Stace was a big mistake.”

“Bigger than your choice of a nickname?” I say.

“You know, if you wanted to kill yourself, there are easier ways than provoking me.”

I glare at him. There’s no chance I’ll have to take them all on. Even if I do have my Aura up. I’m reluctant to do it, but it seems that I’ll have to back out for now. “You’ll regret this, Stacy. I guarantee it. Come on, Dwight.” I take him, and we walk away. Already hear him laughing at me as he takes all our Dust. Honestly. What’s a guy have to do to get some respect around here?

* * *

Dwight and I returned to our building. It was a small place with a few offices. We worked out of there. But right now, we were out of work. I sit at my desk smoking a cigar as Dwight continues pacing around the office. “Face it, Roman,” he says. “Things just aren’t working out. We’ve been working at this for two months and where has it gotten us?”

“Relax,” I reply. “Clearly we just need a new strategy.”

“You always say that, but we always get screwed in the end every time!”

His negative attitude was really starting to bug me. Had I known he’d be complaining this much, I never would’ve asked him to join me. “Look, we’ve had some minor set-backs, but…”

“Minor setbacks?! They took a 300,000 Lien shipment from us! That’s not minor at all! You know, if you negotiated with the other bosses, this might not be a problem.”

“Sure. People trying to maintain power will really play fair, right? We’re not here to make friends. When I get higher up in the ranks, then negotiation becomes an option. And really, it’s only to find a way to take everything they have from under them.”

“You seriously spent way too much time with Kincaid.”

“Hey, you know what they say. ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies within range of your preferred firearm.’”

“Really, man?”

“So you can shoot them.” I hear a knock on the door. “Come in.”

In walks a lovely lady I’ve taken to be my wife. Chloe Price. “Roman, I’m so happy to see you.”

“Nice to see you, too, Chloe. Oh, by the way, this is Dwight. He’s the one I tell you about so often.” She looks at Dwight, who is appropriately shocked since I never mentioned it to him.

“Hello, Dwight,” she says with a friendly smile. “I’m Chloe Price. Roman’s fiancé.”

“FIANCÉ?!” he shouts.

“Well, he wanted things to be low-key for the time being. You know Roman is always wrapped up in his business.”

Dwight looks at me incredulously, but I just shrug in response. “Speaking of business,” I say, “we were just in the middle of discussing some important matters.”

“Oh, of course. I’ll leave you to it.” She was so understanding about the whole business. “I’ll see you at home.” She kisses my cheek and waves goodbye as she exits.

As the door shuts, Dwight just stares at me. “Fiancé?”

I just shrug and say, “Every king needs a queen. It helps to act the part.”

“Let me get this straight, you’re marrying a girl just because you wanted a queen for your currently non-existent criminal empire?”

“It’s not the only reason I’m marrying her… she’s good-looking, too. Just like me. It only makes sense that we’re together.”

Dwight pinches the bridge of his nose. Clearly, he doesn’t understand. “I can’t believe you’re already letting this get to your head.”

“It doesn’t hurt to have a little positive imagery.”

“You could at least wait until we have some _definite_ success.”

“We will. I promise you that. We just need some more muscle.”

“From where?!”

“We just need to get the word out again. Let them know I’m hiring.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m sure that a lot of people would be lining up to work with the guy that’s been hassled by all the other bosses in town. It certainly helps that you can’t pay any of them yet.”

“It’s fine. Just don’t post the mortality rates when you start advertising for the job.”

We hear knocking on the door. Now, who is this? “Were you expecting anyone else?”

“No.” I honestly have no idea who it could be. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to see worst-case scenario is it’s someone coming to kill us… “Dwight, keep your gun ready to go.” He does as I say, and I hold my cane up, ready to fire if needed. “Come in,” I say.

The door opens and… well, this is unexpected. We see a small girl with pink and brown hair. And oddly enough, she has eyes to match. He walked in with a little umbrella. She smiles, but she doesn’t say anything. Dwight and I look at each other. It’s pretty clear that neither one of us knows what is going on. “Uh… can we help you?” I ask.

She holds out a card and walks to my desk. I pick it up and only stare at her oddly cheerful smile. I read the card aloud. “My name is Neopolitan… and I would like to work for you.”

“’Neopolitan’? What, like the ice cream?”

She nods. Interesting. Odd enough that she hasn’t spoken to me at all. “You want to work for me? Why?”

Suddenly, she starts signing to me, “Do you speak sign language?”

Luckily, I had spent a bit of time learning in school. I thought it was interesting because I could just use it to insult people to their faces without them knowing just to mess with them. I didn’t mind saying it outright, but I found it slightly amusing. I sign back, “A little. I’m kind of rusty, though.”

"I'll keep things simple then."

“What a minute,” Dwight exclaims, “I didn’t know you could sign.”

“Just a little bit,” I say aloud.

“Well, what did she say?”

“She just wanted to know if I spoke it. But we’re getting off topic. Why do you want to work for me?”

I translated for Dwight as she signed, “I’ve been paying attention to your work in the last few months and I thought I could help out since you’ve been having so much trouble.”

“Okay, I’ll stop you right there. I don’t have any trouble.” She crosses her arms and glares at me. I then notice that Dwight is doing the same. “Oh, don’t you start!”

She continues, “I’ve really wanted to work for a real crime boss, but really all the other ones I go to either don’t believe I’m old enough and if they do, they just want me for… other reasons.” She makes a disgusted face and Dwight and I both know what she means.

Dwight remarks, “I guess it’s a good thing Kincaid isn’t around anymore.”

“Indeed,” I reply. “Look, kid, I appreciate the offer, but –“

She gets offended and then signs, “I’m twenty-two!”

My eyes widen. There is no way she’s actually that old! She’s probably fifteen, tops! “What did she say?” Dwight asks.

Oh, yeah. I didn’t translate. “She’s twenty-two years old!”

“WHAT?!” She just smirks and nods confidently. “Gods, you are tiny…”

“It’s a condition,” she says. (And I remember to translate that time.) “But I know you guys need some muscle, so I’m willing to fight for you.”

I can barely say that last part with a straight face. Dwight and I burst out laughing. “I appreciate the sentiment, Neo,” I say, “but you don’t particularly look like the fighting type.”

Her expression turns to an angry pout just before she drags Dwight to the center of the office. She then gets into a fighting stance. Dwight looks at me with confusion. “Uh, what does she want me to do?”

“I’m guessing she wants you to fight her.”

“Oh, now that'll be easy. It’s downright unfair.” And before I know what happened, she dodges his punch, knocks him in the gut with her umbrella, and flips him onto the ground. She pulls a blade out of her umbrella and aimed it at Dwight’s neck. And he was whimpering in fear in no time.

“Alright, I’ve seen enough.”

She sheaths her blade and turns to me again. She signs, “Just give me any job and I’ll do it for you. Anything.”

Anything? Well, there is a certain boss that could use a visit. I wonder…

* * *

The three of us walk into Stacy’s warehouse. I was hoping that maybe Neo would surprise me. Taking on Dwight wasn’t exactly that difficult. We’ll see how she is in action. I see Stacy sitting with _my_ Dust and weapons shipments and _my_ truck. Now it was time to end this. He immediately looks over to us as soon as one of his workers notice. He looks as smug as ever. “Oh, look! Little Torchwick didn’t get humiliated enough. I guess you didn’t learn to not mess with the Stace.”

“Actually,” I reply, resisting the urge to make fun of his nickname again, “You’ll be the one who is humiliated. Because I have a new assistant.” I gesture to Neo, and she waves as she twirls her parasol over her shoulder.

Predictably, all of them laugh at her. “Come on, Roman! This is the best you got?! What’d you do? Pick her up at a daycare?”

As he continued laughing, her smile became more sadistic in nature. I could tell she was ready to give these guys a beating. I look down at her. “Neo?” She looks back at me. “Fuck ‘em up.”

She bares her teeth in a sadistic grin as she wields her umbrella. She goes after ten guys and starts to pummel them. Jumping off of them and striking them down with ease. Almost graceful. Many broken bones and twisted wrists result. My smile widens. It looks like Neo would be a worthwhile investment. Especially when I see Stacy’s startled look.

She does take one hit and it knocks her back hard, but she gets back on her feet just as easily. The thug aims a gun at her and fires. Here’s something surprising. An image of her shatters and she goes behind him to snap his neck. Now that was impressive. I’m guessing that’s her Semblance. She then takes the sword and starts getting even more violent with it. Stabbing several of them in agonizing ways.

I point my gun at the back of Stacy’s head. “You know, that could be you.”

Stacy looks at me, horrified. “Make her stop! She’ll kill all my guys!”

“If you answer to my demands, then I’ll make her stop.” All we hear is slashing and the pained screams of her victims.

“Anything!”

“I want you to give me back everything you stole from me. The truck, the Dust, the weapons, all of it.”

“Done!” he quickly answers. He’s starting to understand things here.

“And you’ll allow me to operate in your territory without interference.”

“Fine! You got it.” Neo looks like she’s almost done with them. She’ll be coming for him soon.

“And one last thing.” I’m milking this for as much as I can. “Stop calling yourself ‘the Stace.’ Honestly, that’s just for your own good.”

He grumbles, but then he says, “Fine!” I chuckle as she keeps going, freaking out Stacy. “Aren’t you gonna stop her?!”

I look to her as she’s stabbing a man on the ground with nothing but glee. “Alright, Neo. That’s enough.” She looks at me while holding the blade overhead. She stabs him one more time for good measure. (Probably just for fun. And I respect that.) she walks back over to me and we head for the fully loaded truck. A momentarily see Dwight’s horrified expression as he gets in the driver’s seat. Neo sits in between us. “Well, I think you will truly be a valuable asset.”

She smiles at me happily. It seems that she agrees with me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Points to anyone who noticed the _Red vs. Blue_ reference.
> 
> And yes, Neo has finally arrived. And yes, she really is twenty-two years old. By the time of the main series, she’ll be at least in her mid-twenties.
> 
> And yes, Roman learned sign language just to insult people. It seemed like something he would do. haha
> 
>  **EDIT:** Also, Chloe’s maiden name wasn’t a reference to _Life Is Strange_. That was completely by accident. (A friend of mine pointed that coincidence out and I wanted to clear it up.)


	4. The Price of Wearing the Crown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman starts to enjoy his new success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Fun Fact:** I had kinda written Roman to fit the profile of narcissistic personality disorder. Just a little tidbit I wanted to share. That's part of the reason why his ego is so large.
> 
> By the way, I forgot there was already a character named Melanie on the show when I named Mercury’s mom, so that was poor foresight on my part. Eh, it’s not like there’s only one Melanie in the world, so it makes sense. No big deal.

Things were seriously looking up for me. Ever since Neo came on board, the rest of the organized crime community has been cowering in fear. She was one of the best battle partners that a guy could ask for. We could easily take down the rest of the bosses in our way and soon I was in control of half the illegal markets in Vale. Weapons, Dust, drugs, all the big money items. It was like a dream come true. And all of the other underbosses answered to me. All thanks to little Neo.

About a year after bringing Neo on board, Chloe and I were finally married. And even before then she was extremely helpful to me. She handled all of the finances for my criminal empire. (Damn, it feels good to say that.) I’m surprised I didn’t have her help us out sooner. She was surprisingly adept at the organized crime scene. Even more so than Dwight to be honest. Speaking of which, Dwight was still working with me. He oversaw any shipping arrangements out of Vale. Making sure that we didn’t get cheated on any imports. I sometimes had Neo join him just for some extra intimidation. (He still needed work on his intimidation skills.)

But more than anything else, I was getting rich and powerful. No one was going to get in my way. Anyone who did had to deal with Neo or me. And I was enjoying the extra luxuries that the extra money got me. I didn’t get a mansion (too conspicuous), but I got a penthouse apartment that was one of the best in the kingdom. Chloe definitely loved it. And she also loved the many gifts that I got her, too. I’ve basically become a major success story. Thirty years old and I’ve already got the world in the palm of my hand. If that’s not impressive, I don’t know what is.

Chloe and I meet Neo at the entrance of our building. She gives me a big hug (she likes to do that and I don’t really object) and I pat her on the head. “Nice to see you, too.”

As she lets go, she looks at Chloe and signs, “You look pretty today.”

I translate for her and Chloe smiles. “Oh, thank you!”

She goes to pinch her cheeks, but I stop her immediately. “Don’t pinch her cheeks again. You know she doesn’t like that.”

“I can’t help it!” she says as we all walk inside. “Just look at her.”

"I'm pretty sure if she didn't work for me, she'd be a serial killer. I don't think that's particularly adorable."

“You know, she really looks up to you. It’s kinda cute.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah. I mean, she’s always happy to see you. And I don’t blame her.”

“Well, of course, she’s happy to see me. It’s me.”

“I know, but I think that maybe… you care more about her than you let on.”

To be honest, I do have a growing fondness for her. She’s almost like a daughter to me. I guess you could say that… I do care about her more than as someone I work with. It’s not something I’d like to admit because… well, you know what Kincaid said about having connections.

“I’m not asking you to say anything about it,” she says. “I know how you need to act like the tough scary mob boss who doesn’t care about anyone.”

“I mean, it’s not really an act.”

She smirks at me just before giving me a quick kiss on the lips. “You know, I wouldn’t mind having a kid. Maybe we can adopt her?”

“She’s a twenty-five-year-old woman. I know you think she’s adorable, but she is an adult.”

“I guess we’ll talk about this later. We don’t wanna keep the adorable death-machine waiting.”

I chuckle at the description. That was the appeal of having Neo as an enforcer. Anyone who doesn’t know about her wouldn’t see it coming.

 

Chloe, Neo, and I are in my office and we’re discussing our next shipments of guns. Neo simply stood to the side. For obvious reasons, she didn’t participate much in the discussions.

“So, we’re going to have to look into getting some more men to move the shipments,” she says. “I know you don’t like paying too much for labor, but I don’t think that lowering their wages will help this time.”

“Well, considering the fact that this one will be pretty profitable if things go smoothly,” I answer, “we can afford to pay more for labor. It won’t be much different than our usual net profits, should it?”

“We’ll be getting about forty-five million Lien for this one.”

“Will there be a problem with fees? I know that there’s a boss on the south side of Vale that might try to get a cut.” Neo perks up because she knows there will be a fight if there is a problem.

“I don’t think so. They’ve been barely holding on to power there. There still might be a fee, but I’m pretty sure that there will be some kind of tariff that he’ll demand in exchange for using his port.”

Neo’s smile widens as she grabs my arm excitedly. “Hold on, Neo.” I turn back to Chloe. “How much do you think he’ll want?”

“Maybe about five percent?”

“Really? Well, that’s not so bad. We’ll just pass it through.” Neo’s expression turns into a disappointed pout. “I know, Neo. You really wanted to kill some people, but we don’t need to right now. Maybe next time.”

The door opens and I finally see Dwight coming in to join the meeting. “Oh, look who decided to show up!” I exclaim. “Where have you been this whole time? You’re late for the meeting.”

He glares at me with a sour expression. “Checking the Dust shipment you told me to check out. Overseeing that everything went well.”

“It shouldn’t have taken you that long. What was the holdup?”

“The cops nearly busted our stash. We fought them off, but they’re on to us.”

“I paid those guys off to stay out of my business! What’s up with that?!”

“It’s about appearance. The new commissioner has been on the news talking about how he’s gonna stop the illegal Dust trade.”

Figures. I’ve got a man defending his position and ramping up a political agenda. He’s probably purged a lot of the cops I paid off. I look to my right and see Neo pulling out her blade and smirking. “Easy there. We’ll try to bribe him first before we go killing anybody.”

“I don’t think this is a guy you can bribe.”

Neo once again unsheathes her blade and smirks. “Again, not yet. Though we might have to find any possible weakness. Maybe a wife or kids?”

“You’re seriously considering killing his kids just to intimidate him?!”

Neo signs to me, “He really needs to stop being such a baby.”

I chuckle at the comment. “I know, right?”

Dwight complains, “You know I don’t like when you do that.”

“Learn sign language. Maybe it would bother you less. Back on topic, I’m not saying I want to kill them or that it’s even the first option. But if bribery fails, certain actions must be taken.”

"You know, you're starting to sound a lot like a certain someone." And I know exactly who he's talking about.

"Well, as long as I'm picking up her business habits and not her recreational habits, I think I'll be fine."

"Roman!" He slams his hands on his desk with a furious expression on his face. “This is going too far!”

Suddenly, Neo points her blade at Dwight’s neck. Okay, tensions are a bit too high. I push her sword down slowly. “Easy there, Neo.” I turn back to Dwight. “You know all about how things work in this business. Don’t be surprised by this.”

He turns to Chloe and says, “Chloe, you can’t be okay with this.” Chloe hesitates. And I know exactly why. “Chloe?”

“Well, I know how this business is pretty dangerous… and Roman told me I might be a target, but I know the man I married.”

“Yeah right. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself! I’m sure that he wouldn’t come after you if they took you hostage.”

“I said I know him. I never said he was perfect. He still needs to work on that.” I was a little peeved about not being perfect, but Dwight seems a bit flabbergasted by her response. “I do work with him after all.”

“I can’t believe this…”

I stand up from my chair, furious. “Do you have a problem Dwight?! Get over it! Tough decisions have to be made. And this is exactly why you aren’t in charge.”

“You think that screwing over everyone in your path is the right way to go.”

“In this world, it is. Lie, cheat, steal, and survive. That’s what I’ve been good at all my life. And that’s how I’ve made it this long. I know what actions need to be taken.”

He glares at me for a moment but finally speaks up. “Then I guess I don’t want to be a part of this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I’m out, Roman!”

Well, I guess this was inevitable. I look through my drawers. I know I had it here somewhere. Ah, here it is. I pull out a stash of Lien and hand it to Dwight. “Here.”

“What is this?”

“Your severance-pay. 150 million Lien.”

“You’ve had this prepared? What, you’re not gonna shoot me like your other employees?”

“I’ve known you for seven years, Dwight. I know you’ve never been cut out for this line of work. But I’m not so cruel as to leave you in the dust. You did help me start up this business. It only seems fair. This should be enough to keep you on your feet.” Still, he glares at the money. “It’s a one-time offer. Take it or leave it.”

Without another word, he snatches the money from my hand and exits the office. Chloe looks concerned. “Are you sure about this?”

“If he doesn’t want to be a part of this, then he doesn’t have to be.” Neo nods in agreement. I’m glad someone understands what needs to be done. Dwight has been a good partner, but he was always being held back.

* * *

About a month later, I walk into the club of Hei “Junior” Xiong. (Honestly, I don’t know why a grown man like him is known as “Junior.”) I’ve had a few run-ins with him in the past with Neo along. He quickly learned his place after that. See, the thing is I need some extra men to help to ship the weapons and Dust we need. I go alone because I can honestly take him on my own. And his workers aren’t really the best fighters.

I walk up to the bar counter and already see Junior rolling his eyes. “Junior!” I say. “How’s it going? Things here still running smoothly? Well, as smoothly as a three-star establishment can run.”

“Roman,” he replies. “I’d say it was a pleasure to see you but my mother taught me it’s not good to lie to people.”

I pull out a cigar and my lighter. “Well, I can’t fault you for your honesty.”

As I light the cigar, he gripes, “You know smoking isn’t allowed in here, right?”

“And tell me what in my demeanor indicated that I care at all?” He scowls at me just as two of his enforcers, the Malachite twins, walk towards us. “Melanie. Miltiades.”

“Roman,” they say in unison.

“I see you’re still working for this mediocre crime boss.”

“Like, who says you’re any better?” Miltiades says in a thick Valley-girl accent. It honestly annoyed me.

“Yeah. You’re no better.” Melanie adds.

I then reply, “Oh, so I guess you might like to go toe-to-toe with Neo again.” I smirk, and their eyes widen. They know exactly what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a beatdown from her. “That’s what I thought. Now run along, ladies. We’re doing business.” They storm off in a huff.

“So,” Junior says, “what do you want?”

“More men. I need some to take care of a shipment. I can pay for the extra labor. Maybe they’ll be better delivery boys than they are fighters.”

“How many do you need?”

“Possibly a dozen extra. Get them to me as soon as you can.”

“So long as you can actually pay, unlike last time.”

“I pay them directly. I can’t pay for the minor drop in business that you get to your club. Just send them to my place and I’ll let them know what they need to do.”

“Fine. Just try not to kill half of them. I know they’re idiots, but I still need them back to work.”

“In my defense, if Neo doesn’t get to kill someone after a while, it gets ugly real fast.” I start to exit the club. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

I step outside and continue smoking my cigar. I’ll just be heading back to the office to see what else needs to be taken care of. I’m suddenly reminded why I should be heading out on my own without Neo. I was ambushed by four guys that put a bag over my head and tied my hands behind my back. “What are you doing?!” I shout.

They drag me into the back of a van. I hear the engine start as I hear some of them talking. “I’m sure the boss will be pretty happy to see him.”

“I hope so,” another one replies.

I didn’t know what was going on, but I had a feeling that this was going to be pretty rough.

* * *

Finally, I’m let out of the truck as two men drag me. “You know,” I say, “you will regret this. Maybe you haven’t heard of my enforcer, Neo. The moment she finds out that you have me held hostage, you’re all as good as dead. You hear me?”

They shove me down to the ground and rip the bag off my head. I see a big guy with a beard looking down at me. He simply points to my left. That’s when I see her. Neo. Tied up right next to me. Well… that’s surprising. “Wow,” I say. “You know what, I’m not even upset. I’m actually impressed. Tell me. How many of your guys did she end up killing before you managed to take her down, eh?”

“Far too many,” I hear a feminine voice say in the dark. Wait a minute… I know that voice. It couldn’t be.

Sure enough, I see her walking out of the shadows, swaying her hips and smirking at me as she looks down. None other than Violet Kincaid. “Hello, Roman. Long time, no see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep! Kincaid is back! And I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter. She's definitely my favorite OC villain in the series.
> 
> I hope to get the next one up soon, but don't expect it to come too soon. For now, I hope you enjoyed the update.


	5. Messing with the Wrong People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kincaid returns to Roman's life... and she isn't happy.

Well, I was not expecting to see her and her smug grin again. “Violet!” I say in an excited tone. “Wow! It has been ages since I’ve seen you. What are you? Like sixty-two at least? Yet you don’t look a day over forty.”

Compliments help to get on her good side. She smirks and says, “Well, I do keep up my looks.”

“Well, tell me. Is it because you’ve been getting some work done? I remember you being a cup-size smaller.”

She chuckles… just before kicking me in the stomach. That was also not expected and very painful. She leans down (obviously showing off her cleavage to me) and says, “For the record, _all_ natural. And you could’ve been one of the lucky people to have ‘em. But I’m glad you finally noticed them.”

I groan as I get back upright. “Strange. You used to love those jokes. By the way, if you wanted to catch up, a phone call would’ve sufficed.”

“Yeah. Thankfully, my boys didn’t mess up that pretty face of yours.”

“So, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Well, I was just in the neighborhood for business. Talking to some associates, striking up deals, threatening to kill people and _actually_ killing some people. You know, the usual.”

“Well, it’s nice to know that you’re still the same greedy, violent sociopath I remember you as.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, sweetheart. Especially when you hear what I’ve been investigating.” I have a bad feeling about this… “You see, I seem to be losing a lot of profits from many of my Vale territories. Not that it’s really bad for profits; I’m still filthy stinkin' rich. But I was still a bit peeved to know I was getting ripped off.”

“The great Violet Kincaid getting ripped off?”

She matches my facetious tone. “I know! So I just had to investigate it, but all of them are saying that they’re giving me their full cut. And trust me. I’ve tried all my usual tactics. I’ve tortured, threatened to steal everything they have, killing families – I mean, do you know how many screaming kids I’ve had to deal with? I wanna make it nice and slow, but I just can’t stand listening to that whining after a while. Not like adults, let me tell you.”

“Vi, this is all nice and fun, but what does this have to do with me?”

“Well, someone finally did tell me where my profits were going. An ambitious new starter who has been steamrolling over the competition with the help,” she leans closer to Neo as the latter scowls before continuing, “of a little pink woman. I must say, she’s cuter than I thought she’d be.” She tries to touch her, but Neo bites at her. Kincaid pulls away. “Ooh! I didn’t think you were into that.” And she’s still a shameless pervert. “I must say, married and you’ve got this little cutie? You really have followed in my footsteps.”

“We’re not involved like…” Wait… “How did you know I was married?”

She laughs as she walks the door at the other end of the room. “Oh, you’re gonna love this.”

She opens it up and two men pull Chloe into the room. Hands tied up and gagged. They sit her down in a chair and tie her to it. “I gotta say you definitely got a good one here, Roman,” Kincaid says. “Could use some work in the chest department, but I’m not complaining.”

I look at Chloe’s face and she seems terrified. “What is this for?”

She simply smiles as she removes Chloe’s shoes. Someone brings her a tub of water and Kincaid puts my wife’s feet in it. “Don’t take it personally, honey,” she tells her. “Under different circumstances,” she rises up behind Chloe and puts her lips close to her ear, “we’d be having a different kind of fun.” Chloe recoils (and understandably so).

She then grabs a hose and sprays her down. “Gotta make sure she’s nice and wet, right?” she tells me.

“I’m not sure that’s how you usually do it.”

“Well…” She puts on a rubber glove and reaches into a box of Dust. I finally understand where she’s going with this. “This will be a bit different. Lightning Dust is a hell of a thing.” She lowers her hand closer to the water and I glare at the redhead. “All I ask is you stay out of my business and not cut my profits.” She drops the Dust and Chloe shrieks as she gets electrocuted. “And you’ll have plenty of time. Death by electrocution takes quite a while.”

I simply glare at Kincaid as she allows her to burn. “You better act soon,” she says, “because this is a limited time offer.” She smirks at me, but I say nothing to her. “Well, Roman? Aren’t you gonna save your girl?” I only chuckle at her. Something I can tell that infuriates her. I see her smile drop almost instantly. “What’s so funny to you?”

“‘Even if I did get hitched and they took my lover hostage, I’d go over there and shoot them myself.’” I throw her words back at her with a smirk on my face and I see her fists clench. “Much cheaper than divorce, right?”

She scowls at me as I basically spit in her face. Sorry Kincaid, but you taught me better than you ever realized. That’s when I hear something I can’t believe… “I told you it wouldn’t work,” a different voice says.

Someone comes out of the dark and pulls the Dust out of the water. I look up at his face and see… none other than Dwight. Truly a surprise to me. “Dwight… how… Honestly, I don’t know what to say. I didn’t think you’d ever be going back to her if all people. All to go against me after everything I’ve done for you?”

“Don’t give me that, Roman. You only worked for yourself! You didn’t care about what I had to say or anything I did to help you.”

“So why are you working with her?”

“He was concerned,” Kincaid says, “for what you were doing to the community. You see, you were ambitious, but you had no respect for the nuances. Keeping peace to ensure that your investments don’t crumble under you. You don’t just go steamrolling over everyone in your path. There will be uprising. Revolt. Even outright wars.”

“Isn’t that basically what you did?”

“Well, yeah. At first. But I became more meticulous with my actions. As much as I like a bit of violence, it isn’t the answer to everything. I know. I was disappointed, too. And honestly, my actions as of late haven’t helped me much, so I needed to get to the bottom of it. Imagine my surprise when little Dwight of all people told me everything. He said he wanted to stop any unnecessary bloodshed.” She puts on a mocking tone and says, “How sweet of him.”

“You know, Dwight? If that’s what you wanted, it’s a bit ironic that you went to Violet here. You know the woman loves bloodshed when she can get away with it.”

“But at least she doesn’t have to squash people just for power,” he says. “Kincaid was smarter by letting underbosses operate on their own and pay to her. You tried to strong-arm your way into the system and micromanage everything. Kincaid knows how to keep everyone under control.”

I can just see her getting elated with the compliments he was giving her. I’m surprised she hasn’t grabbed his face and kissed him right there. “I thought you left because I was becoming too much like her.”

“I told her about your business practices and she wasn’t too happy about it.”

“You lacked the certain finesse that I have,” she added. “I know how to negotiate and strike deals. Even if I’m screwing someone over, I’m more subtle about it. I don’t send an attack dog out just to get people to agree. Not at first at least. So, we got together and decided we needed to teach you a little lesson.”

“You said I had potential!” I shout.

She chuckles. “Roman, baby, we both know why I said that.” Of course. She didn’t mean any of it. It was all just to sleep with me. Considering that will never happen, I guess she’s dropping the pleasantries. “And since you have her around…” she says while looking at Chloe.

She pulls out a gun and aims it at my wife, and Chloe whimpers in fear. Dwight stops Kincaid. “You said you’d let her go if your plan didn’t work. She has nothing to do with this.”

Kincaid’s expression becomes deadly serious. “I never agreed to anything. And considering that this lovely lady is standing in my way…”

“She’s his financial manager!” Kincaid actually listens to him. “If you want to take his assets, you’ll need her.”

She mulls over it, but she holsters the gun. “Fine. I guess _Mrs. Torchwick_ lives for now.” She has nothing but disdain when she says that. “But I’m killing her as soon as that’s done.” She walks out and starts making a call.

Dwight looks back at me and un-gags Chloe. “Now you see what I meant, Chloe?” he says.

“What, are you trying to brainwash my wife?” I say.

“At least I didn’t let her get tortured!”

“Well, I’m not against sign the divorce papers if she presents them.”

“I’m not gonna divorce you,” she says. “And I knew exactly what you meant, Dwight.”

“You are so obsessed with dragging my name through the mud and for what? I gave you the money.”

“Yeah, the pity handout. Because I helped you start your business. Face it; you never thought of me as an equal. Just another person to use. Just like Chloe and Neo. You’ve been nothing but selfish and power-hungry and I’m making sure you know how it feels to get backstabbed.”

I chuckle at the notion. “And yet, you assisted the biggest backstabber we know. Let me ask you something, Dwight. Did you ever wonder why Kincaid was so nice to you?” He doesn’t respond. “You were associated with me. You were my partner. She thought we were close professionally. You stuck by my side. If she messed with you, she thought she’d upset me. All because she was trying to be nice to me. She couldn’t care less about you. Now tell me, how much do you think she’ll care about you now that you’ve betrayed me? What’s gonna stop her from killing you once you aren’t useful to her anymore?” He seems shocked. I can tell that he never thought of it that way. “You say I don’t care about the lives lost? She happily takes them herself. I may be bad, but no matter what she says to you about ‘maintaining peace,’ she’s _much_ worse.”

Like clockwork, a gunshot rings out, going right through Chloe’s head. Dwight is horrified when he turns around and sees Kincaid holds the smoking gun. “You said she could live!”

“Turns out she had all the records locked in a safe in Roman’s office,” Kincaid notes. “So little Chloe here just became obsolete. Good news, Roman! You’re a bachelor again! And if you’re feeling bad about the loss, I’m always available.” She smirks and winks at me. I roll my eyes at the comment. Shameless as always.

“You know,” I say, “I have to admit that that was cold even for a guy like me.”

“I’m sure you’ll get over it. And until you do come to your senses,” she continues as she walks closer to Neo, “I think I’ll get acquainted with my new enforcer.” She strokes Neo’s cheek as the small girl recoils. “Maybe you’ll be nicer to me than your old boss.”

“Don’t touch her,” I spit at her in a moment of impulse.

“And why do you care?” I notice the wheels turning in her head as she notices. “You actually care about her, don’t you?” I don’t respond, but that’s more than enough to please Kincaid. “Oh, this is rich!” she says as her smile widens. “Now we’re getting somewhere! You really care about the little munchkin. Boys! Take her out of here. I’m gonna show Roman just why you shouldn’t cross me.” Her expression grows much darker as she glares. This is not good…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter might take a while just because I'm working out how I want the transition from the end of this one to the final scene I have in mind for the ending. I'll probably be working on other stories in the meantime.


	6. Long Live the King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Neo confront Dwight and Kincaid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things:  
> a) I apparently was wrong when I said it would take a while to update.  
> b) It's much shorter than all the previous chapters.  
> c) The beginning of the chapter is not exactly up to standard (not so much the writing as the slightly rushed pacing. Either way, since it was pretty much done, I wanted to put it out already. The climax is what I'm most looking forward to.

“What are you going to do to her?” I ask.

“Oh look. Little Roman does have a heart after all,” Kincaid says. “Well, since I can’t really make her scream for mercy, I’ll probably go for a different approach. I mean, heck. I could do a lot to her. Maybe I’ll just keep her around for a while. An assistant who won’t talk back definitely sounds nice. Maybe I’ll send you little parts of her when I get bored just as a reminder.” She looks down at Neo and asks, “You can fight without pinky fingers, right?”

I glare at her with contempt. “You can’t do this, Violet.”

“Don’t look at me. It’s your fault for getting attached. And to a tool, no less.”

“You got attached to me. What about that?”

“Oh please. We both know I just wanted you for your body. I mean, you could always take her place. Work for me again. Of course, you’d have certain restrictions and…” She leans in closer and while smiling at me. “…other purposes. Non-negotiable, obviously.” I scowl at the prospect.

“Kincaid,” Dwight says, “what are you doing?”

“Shut up, Dwight.” She looks back at me. “So, Roman? Don’t are you gonna save this lady-friend instead?” I say nothing. “Well, maybe I’ll just give you some time to think about it.” She stands up again and looks at Neo. “Come on, sweetie! You work for me now.”

The guys pick up Neo and prepare to drag her away. And that’s when I see something surprising. A smirk. She’s got a plan. As they take her away, she jumps up and kicks them in their faces just before kicking the guns out of their hands. She even uses her thighs to snap a man’s neck. Kincaid fires at her, but an illusion of her shatters as Neo gets behind her and knocks her down.

She grabs one of Kincaid’s hidden knives and cuts herself free. Barely getting two feet before Kincaid takes her down again. “You know, I always liked the feisty ones.” Neo kicks her in the face and tries to stab her. Kincaid dodges just in time for more of her guys to come in and try to attack Neo. She slashes at all of them with the knife. Kincaid tries to shoot at her again, but she destroys another glass illusion.

Neo comes behind me and frees me from my binds. “Thank you, Neo,” I say. “Did you see where they had my cane?” She nods excitedly as she takes me out of the room. I don’t even have time to wonder how she got that information. She sets up another glass illusion and Dwight shoots at it as we slip out.”

“How is she doing that?!” I hear Kincaid shout as we head down the hall.

Neo kicks open a door and holds the knife out to six of Kincaid’s workers. I’m guessing it took more than six to take her down because they all cower in fear. “The cane and the umbrella. Now.”

One of the throws the items on the ground in front of us. “Here,” he stutters. “Just take ‘em and keep that little psychopath away from us!”

We both smile as we pick up our effects. “We’re out of here, Neo.”

We get out just as Kincaid starts catching up. “Get them!” she shouts.

“She’ll kill us,” one henchmen notes.

“You can either fight her or I’ll make you wish I would kill you.”

I fire a round at a bunch of her men. Killing them and taking out a portion of the building. “Neo! Come on!” I shout as the building starts crumbling around us.

We run out of the building as fast as possible. We’re not going to get caught this time. But just as soon as we get outside… “ROMAN!”

I hear her shouting and turn around and see both Dwight and Kincaid. I spoke too soon. She looks furious. Neo and I look at each other. “We’re fucked, aren’t we?” she signs.

“Not yet,” I say. “You take Kincaid. I’ve got Dwight.” She smiles as she runs towards Kincaid, ready to fight. Neo fights with her usual grace, dodging Kincaid’s strikes while attacking her. I can tell that Kincaid is getting more frustrated by the second. I look over at Dwight who watches the fight. “Are you reconsidering which side you’re on, buddy?”

“Give it up, Roman!” he shouts. “You can’t keep this up forever.”

I take up Melodic Cudgel and get ready to attack. “I’m willing to bet otherwise.”

He raises his gun and fires at me, but I spin my cane fast enough to deflect the bullets. I swing the cane at him, knocking the gun out of his hand. I strike him enough times in an effort to take down most of his Aura. But he still blocks most of the strikes. He never was the greatest fighter. As I see his Aura fizzle out, I aim the gun at his head.

I look over to Kincaid and Neo’s fight and see that Kincaid actually gets some hits in on Neo, but the small woman still gets Kincaid’s Aura down. I look back at Dwight and say, “Your plan didn’t seem to work out after all.” He glares at me and I smirk in response. But that’s before I see Kincaid grabbing Neo by the throat and throwing her at one of the falling walls, trapping her under some rubble. “Neo!” I shout.

Dwight takes advantage of the distraction and knocks me in the back. He takes my cane from me and uses it to attack me. He knocks me on the ground despite my best efforts, and my Aura nearly depletes. He points the gun at me and glares. “Like I said, you can’t do this forever. You’re not a king anymore.”

“Maybe not… but at least I tried.”

“And look where that got you.”

Dwight is suddenly shot in the chest by an enraged Kincaid. She walks, steps on his chest, and fires at his head. Honestly, seeing Kincaid like this was more disturbing than her usual self (which was really saying something). I reach for the cane, but she kicks me straight in the face and steps on my hand. I already feel blood running down my nose as she picks up the cane.

“I told you…” she says before striking me once in the chest. “You got…” another strike, “…in way over your head.” She then starts viciously beating me. Without Aura, it seriously hurt. “You made a big mistake! Messing with me! After all that I’ve done for you!” I can already feel bruises forming by the time she stops. “And now…” She raises the cane up above her head. “…you’re gonna suffer for it!”

But before she could bring the cane down once more, a blade went straight through her chest. Her expression of anger turns into one of terror as she looks down at the blade. I look and see an angry Neo behind her, covered in cuts and bruises. I must say, she is a sight for sore eyes. She pulls out the blade and cuts Kincaid’s leg. The redhead falls on her back as Neo hovers over her. Rage evident in the little woman’s face.

Kincaid starts panicking as Neo raises the blade. ”No! WAIT!” Neo stabs her in the throat repeatedly and relentlessly, gritting her teeth. I get up as Kincaid dies and shrieks, begging for mercy.

I have to get up and stop her from going too far. ”Neo. Neo!” She looks up at me while holding the sword overhead. ”I think she’s dead.”

She looks at her corpse, then me, then back at the corpse, then back to me… and stabs her one last time. I chuckle at her. ”Are you alright?” I ask. She gives a ”so-so” gesture while smirking at me. My smile grows wider as I hug her. She really came through. And I’m glad she’s alright. Who would’ve guessed that I would grow attached to her? Definitely not me.

But our tender moment is interrupted by police sirens. I let go of her as I see the cop cars pulling up. All of them jump out of their cars and point their guns at us. ”Freeze! Don’t move!”

Neo prepares for a fight, but I simply raise my hands. ”Let it go.” She looks up at me with surprise. ”Well be fine. Besides… I’m sure you’ll break out pretty easily. You can always get me some help.” I wink at her and she smiles.

The cops come and handcuff us as they take us away. Yeah, it’s not ideal, but I’m not letting this hold me back. They won’t be able to keep me in forever. I’ll find a way out. I always do. I’ve always been good at surviving. And that’s exactly what I’ll do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of _Roman's Empire_. I hope you all enjoyed it. It was probably my favorite one to write, so I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much. I'll be moving forward with updating _CRME_ as soon as I can (which could vary depending on my schedule). Plus, it'll be a while before Roman is introduced into that story anyways. But for now, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy the rest of the series.


End file.
